Yamuna Nagar History

YAMUNANAGAR Distt. came into existence on Ist November, 1989. Its area is 1756 square kilometers, in which there are 655 villages, 10 towns, 2 tehsils and 4 sub-tehsils. Before being named Yamunanagar it was known as Abdullapur. Large part of the district lies under the Shiwalik foothills. Sugarcane, wheat and rice are its main crops. It is an important industrial town having metal, utensil and plywood industries. Large industries like Shri Gopal Paper Mills and Saraswati Sugar Mills (biggest Sugar mill in Asia) are also located here.

JAGADHRI : It is known for utensils industry. Yugandhra and Ganadhari had been demolished by Nadirshah in 1739. The credit of rebuilding this city goes to Sardar Roa Singh in 1783. Slowly it became an important or major centre of metals.

BHUDIA : A famous town situated 3 k.m. away from Jagadhri and 8 k.m. from Yamunanagar railway station. It is said that Hamayun came here for hunting in Shivalik forests made up a 'Rang-Mahal'. Many people guess the relation of 'Rang-Mahal' of Bhudia to Birbal, one of the Navrattana of Akbar. In nearby Dayalgarh, there is a very beautiful place of worship - the renovated old temple of Shree Pataleshvar Mahadev with a beautiful garden and some ashrams of saints made during mediaeval times.

BILASPUR AND KAPALMOCHAN : Bilaspur town named after the writer of the 'Mahabharata' - Maharishi 'Ved Vyas' is a historical place. It is supposed that there was an Ashram of Ved Vyas on the bank of a pond situated here. The statue of Uma Mahadev made in 9th-10th century, and statue of Ganesha made in 11th-12th century and remains of Gupta period prove the antecedence of Kapalmochan. People came from all parts of the country feel spiritual elevated by taking bath here in ponds (kunds) known as Rinmochan, Kapalmochan and Surya kund. There is also a Hindu temple and Gurudawara of Dasham Padhashahi.

SUDH, AMADALPUR : Patanjali wrote about it in 'Divya Vadhan' which prove its presence in 7th century. Today the surya Kund temple of Amadalpur reflects the splendor of medieval India.

PANCHMUKHI HANUMAN MANDIR : The temple is situated on the road coming from Bilaspur to Chhachhrauli, 4 k.m. away from Bilaspur and it attracts large numbers of people.

CHHACHRAULI : Known as the main tehsil situated in north east and 11 k.m. from Jagadhri. In the past it was the capital of Kalsia state. Created by Raja Gurbaksh Singh in 1763. Today 'Ravi Mahal', Ghantaghar, Janak Niwas and the fort have their own dignity. There is also a Sainik Parivar Bhawan & Bal-kunj social welfare institution at Chachrauli.

BAN SANTUR : This village is situated north east from Chhachhrauli near Kalesar - it is supoposed to be connected with King 'Shantanu' of Mahabharata.

ADIBADRI : It lies 40 kms. north of Yamunanagar town. It is approached by road via Bilaspur and is about 2 kms. From the nearest village Kathgarh. It is located in the foothills of the Siwaliks. It is a picturesque location, abundant with natural beauty and tranquility, with the Adi-Badri Narayana, Shri Kedar Nath and Mantra Devi Temples in the background. Three mounds of antiquities have recently been excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India.

CHANETI : It is situated 3 k.m. away from Jagadhri. There is a grand Tomb of 8 meters in height made of bricks, in the area of about 100 suare meters near the village. Made in round shape this is an old Buddhist Stupa. According to Hieun Tsang, this was built by the great King Ashoka.

HARNOL AND TOPRA : A religious place named 'Panjtirthi' is situated 15 k.m. away from Yamunanagar on the road coming from Topra Kalan to Harnol. There are Shiv Temples and a Gurudwara which indicate the cordial relations of Sikhs and Hindus. People come here for sacred bath. There are statues of Lord Ram, Sita and five Pandavas.

SADHAURA : An old historical place. It was said that people coming from Haridwar and all the religious places of Himachal used to take rest here. It was known as the 'Sadhu-raha' in the past. Later it became Sadhaura.

TOURIST PLACES

DADUPUR : It is very beautiful and calm canal headworks situated 15 K.M. away from Yamunanagar. Here, Somb and Pathrala river meet the Western Yamuna Canal.

TAJEWALA / HATHNIKUND : These three places are tourist places situated on the road going from Yamunanagar to Paonta Sahib. There is a dam also for irrigation.

KALESAR WILD LIFE SANCTUARY : This place is spread in 11570 Acres area in the lap of lower hills of Shivaliks, situated in the eastern part of Yamunanagar. Mainly the forest has sal trees and Khair, Shisam, Tun, Sain & Amla. In this forest there are many wild animals.

CH. DEVI LAL Herbal Nature Park : Situated in village Chuharpur on the Yamuna Nagar - Paonta road. The mountainous belt of shiwaliks in Haryana has a rich diversity of medicinal plant species. In view of the increasing market demand for medicinal plants, both national and international and to exploit the commercial potential of medicinal resources wealth of this region, the Ch. Devi Lal Herbal Nature Park has been created and developed at Chuharpur in district Yamunanagar to conserve and propagate the resource base of medicinal plant material in Haryana.

Physical Aspects

Yamuna Nagar district is bounded by the state of Himachal Pradesh in the north, by the state of Uttar pradesh in the east and south east by the districts of Karnal and Kurukshetra in the south west and by Ambala district in the west.

The district has a sub-tropical continental monsoon climate where we find seasonal rhythm, hot summer, cool winter, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature. In winters, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. The district also gets occasional winter rains from cyclones. The rain fall is mostly restricted to rainy season. The district has Shivalik hills and foot hill rolling plain in the north and north- east, and flood - plain along the Yamuna river in the east and south- east. The important rivers/ streams of the district are Yamuna, Sarasvati, Chautang, Rakshi, Somb, Boli, etc.

Yamuna river after rising from the snow-clad peaks of the middle himalayas at yamnotri, enters the district from its northeastern corner through a narrow corridor in the Siwaliks. It is a perennial river. boli nadi joins the somb nadi near dadupur and then the combined somb and boli nadis join the Yamuna river at mehar majra. The rakshi stream takes its birth in the rolling foot hill plain while the Chautang and Sarasvati rivers originate in the lower hills. Generally, the slope of the district is from north-east to south- west, in which direction most of rivers/nadis/ rainfed torrents flow down.

The soils in the district are mainly silty loam (Khadar), loam (Bhangar and Nardak), and light loam (Seoti). The soils as classified by the national bureau of soil survey and land use planning (icar), Nagpur, the district has mainly udalfs, aquents-fluvents and ochrepts-orthents types of soils.

The underground water in the district is generally fresh and suitable for domestic and irrigation purposes. The district has favorable climate for the growth of rich vegetation due to reasonably good rainfall and elevation. Shisham (dalbergia sissoo), kikar (acacia nilotica), Aam (mangifera indica), Jamun (syzygium cumini), pipal (ficus religiosa), Bodh (ficus bengalensis) Neem (azadirachta indica), etc. are the important tree species grown in the area. Safeda (eucalyptus hybrid) has been introduced since 1963 in forest areas as well as on private land and popular is also grown on private land and also along the road routes. The natural vegetation is mainly of forest growth and its degradation stages. Tropical dry deciduous forests and sub-tropical forests are found here.